i wanna b a luthier

hey....i love guitars and i'd really really like to go to school to be a professional luthier...is this something a should go after??? i've loved guitars for a long time...and i'd really like to make them professionally!! my dream is to make guitars for peavey...but i dream big...my main question is....is this something i could accomplish?? is it something that could serve as a main fulltime job???

hey....i love guitars and i'd really really like to go to school to be a professional luthier...is this something a should go after??? i've loved guitars for a long time...and i'd really like to make them professionally!! my dream is to make guitars for peavey...but i dream big...my main question is....is this something i could accomplish?? is it something that could serve as a main fulltime job???

To answer your main question, yes, it can be a full time job, and it is for many people, whether they work for someone like Ken Smith or Gibson, or if they own and run their own business.

As far as working for someone like Peavey, what you could do for them would depend greatly on your education. I would dare to say that working for them as a builder would mean assembly line factory work, ie: you're not going to build a guitar from start to finish but your job is to route the pickup holes in every guitar as it comes down the assembly line... all day...every day.

If you were to decide to start your own line of guitars, there is way more to it than just the building process. You'll have to know how to run a business, interface with customers, track all of your expenses, especially the small ones that you wouldn't think would add up to that much (you really would believe how much $$$ you spend on sandpaper per instrument....), all of your income and then figure that against your expenses to determine your pricing based on your desired yearly income if you figure you can produce X number of instruments per year, learn how to work with all of your suppliers, etc.

Finally, there are many different "branches" of lutherie, including violins, cellos and upright basses, acoustic guitars, harps, banjo's, electric basses, etc. Most "luthiers" end up focusing on just one of them (ie: Ken Smith or Sadowsky, or Gledura or others) to allow them to really refine and specialize, plus, like many of us, myself included, one of the "branches" of lutherie is where our passion lies.

If you want to work for someone like Peavey, simply contact their HR department and ask what their requirements are for working as a guitar builder, do they have a custom shop area, etc... etc. Then simply put together a plan to meet those requirements whether it be attending luthier school, whatever.

If you want to go into business for yourself, good communication skills are a big plus. There's nothing worse than getting to the end of a project and realizing that your customer was expecting something different than what you've provided.

Handcrafting a bass is easy but the problem starts when you try to make a living out of it or try to sell at a decent price.
Bassists or guitarists are extremly demanding for their money,
because they think that luthiers don't pay for the product
they use to handcraft a bass or a guitar.
Rene
20 years experience as a maker and a repair manwww.gelinar.com

English is my second language "Popinfresh"
may be you know only one language in Australia and can not make basses

Click to expand...

Boy, Rene, when I look at popsadaisy's entry, it appears that he was repsonding to the original poster who wanted to start his/her own business. I don't think he was speaking to your grammar, spelling, etc. in his post. It's not polite or appropriate to attack unrelated personal attributes (bass-making abilities) just because you think he was attacking your grammar.

BTW - It seemed to me that your post was pretty well constructed compared to many Native-Tongue English speakers.

hey....i love guitars and i'd really really like to go to school to be a professional luthier...is this something a should go after??? i've loved guitars for a long time...and i'd really like to make them professionally!! my dream is to make guitars for peavey...but i dream big...my main question is....is this something i could accomplish?? is it something that could serve as a main fulltime job???

any help is nice thank you

Click to expand...

Hey man, anything's possible, right? I never thought I could make myself a bass, but I'm trying anyway, and things are going pretty well. It seems like you're at an age where you have one of the most important things going for you: time. You're still young to the point where you can dedicate a few years to learning how, getting down your chops, and making a go at it. Don't half-a$$ it!

By the way: as a teacher, it kills me to read the "shorthand" typing that shows up on forums and such (I won't give you a hard time about it), but all-in-all I think the folks here have actually been pretty nice about it. Go to mimf.com, type out what you did and see what happens